T-Mobile Newport Liberty Waterfront Half Marathon next Sunday in Jersey City

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, September 13, 2015

T-MOBILE NEWPORT LIBERTY WATERFRONT NEXT SUNDAY IN JERSEY CITY

The T-Mobile Newport Liberty Waterfront Marathon will be held next Sunday in Jersey City with a course that goes into Liberty State Park and takes the runners to the harbor edge giving all a stunning view of the Manhattan skyline.  Is it the most beautiful course in the state?

“As far as beautiful is concerned, mostly I just look straight ahead, so the only things besides loopbacks that make a course beautiful, are a good running surface, shade (like in the RVRR Training Run), no sharp corners, and few corners, and flat if you want a good PLP or pace,” said  Carl Weaver of Morris Plains.  “Scenery is noticeable to me mainly at the start and finish.”

Pete Lee of Randolph has done the Liberty race five times.  He will be running in it again next Sunday.

“I like the race but don't love it,” Lee said.  “The course is mostly flat and I like cheering my friends that I might see ahead of me or behind me if that's the way the course still goes.”

[Editor Note:  the course is the same as in 2014, and 2013]

“The first year was 2001 shortly after the 9-11 attack and lower Manhattan was still smoldering,” remembered Ed Neighbour of Sparta who will be running in his 15^th Liberty Half Marathon.

 “The course has gone through multiple changes over the years with the last re-route due to Sandy taking out the sea wall and promenade by the railroad station.”

“The backdrop of lower Manhattan does give you nice views but I would not call the course the most beautiful in the state,” he said.  I like the bucolic views along the Shades of Death Half Marathon course in Allamuchy, which is a USATFNJ Wild Card Race in 2015.”

Neighbour did give the race a thumbs up in the regards to the New Balance Grand Prix.  He pointed out that the race with its huge field bumps up the grand prix points for USATF runners.

Good point.  In 2014 close to 2,800 runners finished the race.  Ken Goglas of Port Reading won the race last year in 1:11:26

CLUB AND TEAM STANDINGS HAVE BEEN POSTED

The overall club and team grand prix has been updated and to no one’s surprise the Adidas Garden State Track Club is leading the overall club grand prix by a wide margin.   All team scores are added into the tally and when you can field an “H” team in some races as has the club, you are going to pull in the points.

The Garmin Runners are in second, ahead of the Shore Athletic Club by a 12 point margin.  The Morristown based Garmin club fields teams in only the open division and the 40 and 50 division with both genders.  The Shore club has strong men’s teams in the masters divisions with some support from their womens teams.  The highest ranking other local club is the Randolph based Do Run Runners in 7^th place.

The Garden State club has managed to tie for first with their A and B teams in the open men’s division with their C team in third place.  The Garmin men are in fourth and Do Run is in sixth. 

The Garmin M40 team is leading that division with the Garden State team second and Do Run in third, trailing by only two points.   In the M50 division the Shore club is first but the Garmin men are but three points back in second.  The next three spots are separated by a single point; Raritan Valley, Do Run and the North Jersey Masters.  No local teams are in the top places in the M60 where the Shore team has a solid lead.

The Clifton Road Runners is the team with a solid lead in the M70 division with no local teams competing in that division.

The open women division has the Adidas Garden State Track Club in the two top spots with the Garmin women in third.  The Garmin women are in first in the W40 division with a three-way tie for second between the Garden State team, Raritan Valley and Shore.  Ties seem to have come easy in the series with the Clifton team and Shore tied for third in the W50 division where the Garmin women have a good lead.  In the W60 division Central Jersey Road Runners and Raritan Valley are tied for first with Madison based Rose City Runners in fourth place.  As always, the Morris County Striders W70 and W80 teams are the sole competitors in their divisions.

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Race Results can often be found at www.compuscore.com or at  www.bestrace.com 

A calendar of USATF sanctioned events can be found at www.usatfnj.org or at www.raceforum.com for running and tri and biathlon events.

Contact Madeline Bost at madelinebost@verizon.net.